Nonprofit Housing

Sue Reynolds and Jeff Hale ("Chance to Reverse a Disturbing Trend of the '80s," Jan. 7) correctly ascribe a critical role to nonprofit developers in the search for solutions to the housing crisis. However, the authors understate the need for public subsidy. Without considerable public assistance, the prospect of nonprofit housing development in San Diego will remain nothing more than a pipe dream. This assistance was provided through federal housing programs. Now it must be generated locally by programs like the proposed housing trust fund.

Lawmakers agreed this month to spend an additional $11 billion on federal tax credits for home buyers, hoping to shore up a housing market that's awash in unsold properties. By contrast, affordable rental units remain in short supply, with the recession and tight credit markets putting a crimp in efforts to build apartments reserved for people with modest incomes. There are simple things Congress can do to ameliorate this situation, however, without borrowing billions more or increasing the government's involvement in the housing sector.

The newly formed Southern California Assn. of Non-Profit Housing will hold its first conference Friday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Hotel Queen Mary, Long Beach. Titled "Non-Profit Housing Development: New Resources for the 1990s," the conference will focus on new state and federal housing initiatives, nonprofit tax-exempt bonds and redevelopment funds.

Chris Jordan had just returned home from his paramedic job when he saw his local market aflame on Central Avenue in Watts, one of many targets that night in April 1992 when parts of the city exploded in riots after the Rodney King verdict. Now, on the site of that rubble, an affordable-housing complex has risen in what neighbors see as a sign of renewal for their beleaguered community. "It's like the phoenix rising from the ashes," said Jordan, executive director of Grant African Methodist Episcopal Church's nonprofit housing and economic development corporation.

Chris Jordan had just returned home from his paramedic job when he saw his local market aflame on Central Avenue in Watts, one of many targets that night in April 1992 when parts of the city exploded in riots after the Rodney King verdict. Now, on the site of that rubble, an affordable-housing complex has risen in what neighbors see as a sign of renewal for their beleaguered community. "It's like the phoenix rising from the ashes," said Jordan, executive director of Grant African Methodist Episcopal Church's nonprofit housing and economic development corporation.

Lawmakers agreed this month to spend an additional $11 billion on federal tax credits for home buyers, hoping to shore up a housing market that's awash in unsold properties. By contrast, affordable rental units remain in short supply, with the recession and tight credit markets putting a crimp in efforts to build apartments reserved for people with modest incomes. There are simple things Congress can do to ameliorate this situation, however, without borrowing billions more or increasing the government's involvement in the housing sector.

The Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday approved in concept a sweeping set of plans to create badly needed affordable housing, including a fee to be paid by commercial developers into a housing fund. The watershed package of programs--ideas borrowed from several cities that are well ahead of Los Angeles in responding to skyrocketing housing costs--was approved 13 to 0 after some of its aspects were strengthened by the council. Show of Support The complex set of proposals received a surprising show of support, not only from council members but also from a wide range of advocates for the poor, housing experts, corporate leaders and commercial development representatives who spoke.

The Southern California Assn. of Non-Profit Housing will present its ninth annual conference, "The Double Bottom Line: Producing Housing and Rebuilding Neighborhoods," on Sept. 26 at the Omni Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. The cost is $125. For more information, call (213) 480-1249.

The Southern California Assn. of Non-Profit Housing will present its 11th annual conference Sept. 23 at the Wilshire Grand Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa (D-Los Angeles) and state Sen. Richard Alarcon (D-Sylmar) will speak at the daylong conference. The association's 550 members include nonprofit developers, local government, public agencies, lenders, social service providers, private businesses and individuals.

They are housing developers with a small d . They aren't big builders. They aren't in it for the money. They--Los Angeles' growing cadre of nonprofit developers--are building affordable housing, and helping to revitalize poor and working-class neighborhoods. The Times Real Estate section, in a five-part series that began Sunday, is profiling builders who have responded to the desperate need for decent and low-rent housing.

As many as 500,000 Californians need decent apartments that don't require two paychecks or thievery to pay the rent. The federal government promises little in the way of new low-rent housing, but there is still hope. A blossoming housing partnership between private investors and nonprofit developers holds the promise of 4,000 affordable apartments. A national, nonprofit housing group--the Local Initiatives Support Corp.

The term "affordable housing" is becoming an oxymoron in Southern California. For low- and moderate-income families, more nonprofit housing development would help. Mayor Tom Bradley and the City Council support the concept, but a shortage of local investment capital and a glut of paper work bogs down the process of building it. Financing is a big hurdle.